Loshelf
FeaturesShowcaseFAQDownloadPro
Get Loshelf
For Mac

A private, offline photo organizer for Mac

Want to organize the photos and videos on your Mac without handing them to iCloud? Loshelf is a fast, private, offline photo organizer for macOS. It works with the folders you already have, keeps everything on your own machine, and makes even a huge library a pleasure to browse.

100% offline and private

Your photos never leave your Mac. No account, no iCloud, no uploading, and no tracking.

Works with your existing folders

Loshelf organizes the folders you already have in place, on your Mac or an external drive, instead of importing everything into its own library.

Native on Apple Silicon

Built for M1 and newer Macs, signed and notarized by Apple, so it opens without a security warning.

Photos and videos together

Video is first-class: hover-to-play previews, a built-in player, and notes you can pin to a moment.

Powerful search and tags

Tag, rate and favorite your photos, then filter by tag, rating, resolution, orientation and more.

Built for big libraries

Stays fast whether you have a few hundred photos or a million across several drives.

Your whole library, beautifully browsable

Loshelf turns your photo folders into a fast, gorgeous grid you can scale from tiny thumbnails to large previews. Sort, shuffle and scroll through thousands of photos without the sluggishness of Finder previews or a cloud app waiting on a sync.
Photos on a Mac organized in Loshelf's masonry grid

Your folders stay your folders

Loshelf indexes the folders you point it at and leaves them exactly where they are, on your Mac or on an external drive. Add tags, star ratings and favorites, then filter by tag, rating, resolution and orientation to resurface any shot in seconds. Every photo remains a plain file you can open in any other app.
Folder cards in Loshelf showing a photo collection on macOS

Why not just use Apple Photos or Finder?

Apple Photos is excellent if you want your whole collection living inside its own library and synced through iCloud. It is less happy when your photos are plain files in folders, especially on an external drive, and iCloud storage becomes a subscription as your collection grows. Finder is a file manager, not a photo organizer: its tags are a handful of colors, and there are no ratings, no filters by resolution or orientation, and no way to search a collection spread over several drives. Loshelf organizes the photos already on your disk, fully offline, with a one-time price and no account.

Questions

Is there a free offline photo organizer for Mac?

Yes. Loshelf has a genuinely free version that covers one library of up to 10,000 files. A one-time $29 (no subscription) unlocks unlimited libraries and files.

How do I organize photos on a Mac without iCloud?

Point Loshelf at your photo folders and it builds a private, searchable library right on your Mac. It reads your existing folders in place, including folders on an external drive, and never uploads anything.

Does it need an internet connection?

No. Loshelf runs entirely offline. There is no account to create and no connection required to browse, tag or search your library.

Which Macs does it support?

Loshelf runs on Apple Silicon Macs (M1 or newer) with macOS 11 or later. There is no Intel Mac build at the moment. Windows and Linux builds are also available.

How do I install it?

Download the .dmg, open it and drag Loshelf into your Applications folder. The app is signed and notarized by Apple, so there is no Gatekeeper warning. When you add a library, macOS may ask permission to access folders such as Desktop, Documents or an external drive.

Can it organize videos as well as photos?

Yes. Video is treated as a first-class citizen: hover-to-play previews, a built-in player with saved playback positions, and notes you can pin to a specific timestamp.

Try Loshelf free

Free for 1 library of 10,000 files · one-time $29 for unlimited